The present invention relates generally to training devices and methods for athletes and, more specifically, to a device and method for improving an athlete's skill at sports tasks involving arm and torso movements, such as baseball pitching.
An athlete may improve his skill in a sport by repeating a biomechanically correct movement or sequence of movements that pertain to that sport until he masters them. A movement is biomechanically correct if it is the optimal and otherwise most efficient manner in which the athlete can perform the movement with minimal risk of injury. The biomechanically correct movement is unique to an individual. For example, although two baseball pitchers may pitch equally well, one may have a longer stride or a higher leg lift than the other. Training methods and devices must therefore accommodate the individual athlete's needs. They must also provide proper feedback to constrain the athlete to the correct movement.
Pitching a baseball involves a complex sequence of movements known as the delivery. The delivery includes a leg lift, a stride, and a rotation of the hips and torso when the forward foot strikes the ground. The pitcher's throwing arm winds up and arcs forward during these movements and releases the baseball at a point during the rotation.
It is known that a baseball pitcher may improve his pitching using a "stride beam." A stride beam comprises a beam or plank approximately five or six feet in length and six inches in width having a starting platform and a landing platform spaced apart on the a beam by a distance approximately equal to the pitcher's stride length. Beginning on the starting platform, the pitcher executes a delivery, ending with his forward or stride foot striking the landing platform. The starting platform may include a simulated pitcher's rubber. The stride beam improves a pitcher's skill by constraining the pitcher's stride direction and foot strike position.
It is known that a baseball pitcher may use a "towel drill" to improve his delivery. The pitcher, standing as he would prior to beginning a delivery, wraps his middle finger around the center of a small hand towel that has been gathered or rolled into an elongated shape. A second person kneels at a distance from the pitcher approximately five or six feet greater than the length of the pitcher's stride. The second person extends his arm outwardly toward the pitcher with his palm facing upwardly. The pitcher then performs a complete delivery as though the towel were a baseball, attempting to strike the second person's palm with the towel as his arm arcs downwardly past the point where he would have released the baseball. The snapping sound and feel of the towel as it strikes the person's palm provides aural and tactile feedback to the pitcher. If the delivery is performed improperly, the towel will generally fail to strike the person's palm. It has been observed that a pitcher's ability to consistently strike the person's palm with the towel is related to his pitching accuracy, i.e., his ability to consistently throw a baseball into the strike zone. The towel drill is also believed to provide resistance training for arm muscles because the towel experiences air resistance as the pitcher swings it. It is also believed that the drill improves arm speed.
Persons familiar with the towel drill have not, however, developed a method for improving a pitcher's skill in striking the palm with the towel. Striking the palm is merely an indication that the delivery was properly performed. It would be desirable to provide a system and method for improving a pitcher's accuracy. These problems and deficiencies are clearly felt in the art and are solved by the present invention in the manner described below.